September 2022 Club Meeting: Kathleen Duncan

I have long admired the pierced work by such artists as Binh Pho, Joey Richardson, and Gordon Pembridge.  When I retired in 2014, I took the plunge and bought a micro motor and an air-driven dental drill.  Since then, I’ve learned a lot and had a lot of fun piercing thin-turned pieces.  This demo begins with a discussion of thin turning.  To pierce, the wood must be turned to a thickness of about 2 mm.  Grain orientation is very important when you intend to pierce a turning.  I’ll go through the steps I take when turning thin.   I’ll also discuss the tools I use as well as “dry” vs. “green”.  Once a piece is turned, the next step is to lay out the design.  In this portion of the demo, I’ll discuss sources of design inspiration, curves, proportion, and laying out the design.  The layout is important – it is worth taking the time to make sure you are satisfied with the design.  I’ll show several different styles of pierced-hole size, shape, and placement.   This part of the demo includes a very brief refresher course on geometry.   I’ll demonstrate piercing using a high-speed dental.  I’ll show various methods of de-fuzzing, removing the “burn”, sanding, and finishing the piece.  For this portion, I’ll use a micro motor carving tool as well as a few hand devices.